Mixing method and apparatus



p 1940. G. w. NEWTON MIXING METHOD AND APPARATUS Filed July 29, 1938 2 Sheets-Sheet F5 NIH A) III gjwve/wtom MIXING METHOD AND APPARATUS Filed July 29, 1938 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 puma/CM orga ZOf/Vzw@w Patented Sept. 24,- 1940 METTIG-D AND APPARATUS George W. Newton, Baltimore, Md, assi n r -U Crown-Cork & Seal Company, Inc., Baltimore, Md., a corporation of New York Application July 29-, 193s, Serial'No; 222,042

g l 7 15 Claims. The present invention-relates to a mixing ap pafatusand" method and; mo'reparticularly', to anapparatus' and" method" for'm'ixin'g beverages such as soft drinks in the individual containers" in which they arefsold; I Infthe" bottling" of carbonated beverages, itis usualtofirst flow a quantity of syrup into the bottle or other container; and to then 'fill the re- I mainder of the container with carbonated water. Machines have heretofore been" developed and usedfor mix'i'ng' therelatively" heavy syrup; which tends to remain in thebottom of the bottle, with thecarbonatedwater. However, such prior machines have not been altogether satisfactory, due T5 to the fact that even with the most thorough mixing which such machines can give the'bottl'e contents; it has stillbeen possible for a" very thin l'ayer'or coating of syrup to adhere to thew-all of the lower portion of-thebottle, that is, the portiofnof the bottlein" which the syrup-is originally placed; Aside from the lack of complete distribution-of syrup; an objection to such a coating of syrup has occurred in plants where" light sensitive insp'ectihg mechanisms are useot to scan the bottle for the purpose of ascertaining whether any foreigmmatter is present in the bottle contents; Gne widely usedinspectiorr machine rotates the bottle, and then holds the bottleagainst'rotation as its contents continueto' rotate and while thebottle is moving past aphoto-electric cell. By this arrangeme'nt the entirecontents of the bottle are slowly swirled in frontof the photo-electric cell; In order to be completely effectivein detecting v extremely small fragments of foreign matter'i-n 35 the bottle contents; the inspection mechanism must be so sensitive to the passage oflight a through the bottle that-it will also respond to the shadowed or darkened area createdinthe 1 lower portion of the liquid when the syrup left upon the wall of the bottle by prior mixers is moved off the bottle wall into the liquiddue to the rotation of the bottle. The result isthat such bottles maybe discarded by the inspection 45 mechanism, causing an entirely unnecessary waste. w

The" principal object of the present invention is to provide-a mixing apparatus and method which will thoroughly mix" the contents of a container and; more particularly, will thoroughly mix all syrup in a carbonated beverage container'with the carbonated water in the container.

It has been found that the removal of all'syrup from the wall of a bottle and its thorough distribution throughout the contents may be accomplished byrapidly spinning-the-bottleor other container about its longitudinal axis-and then vpermitting the con-tents of the bottle to spin, while the bottle does not rotate or- 'rotates' at a slower speed} Ibeinitial'rotation of the bottle tocause the contents to s-pin; and -the=subsequent step of permitting the-bottle tobe -stationary, or rotate at a slower speed while permitting the contents to continue spinning, causes the walls of the bottle to be thoroughly Washed or scoured by m the still spinning contents; with the" result that no'syru-p will be left coated onthe bottle' v a1-l-.- By combining this spinningoiF-the bottle contents with-atilting or inversion of the bottle; a

thorough mixing or the bottle contents isob '5 tained; j a

Other objects-andadvantag'es-ofthe invention will be apparent item thefollowingdrawings wherein; a

Figure 1 is a plan-view of amachine ofthe 20 present invention and; 1

Figure 2 is a vertical cross sectional view' on the'lineI- -Z of Figure 1.- 1 s r The numeral l0 designates the base ofthemachine, in which is journalled a rotary table H. The base i0 also supports a'worktable l2 at the front of the rotary table H A straight line endless conveyor it" moves across the work tabl-e l2, this conveyor bringingbottles- C or other containers to the present machine from afilling'machine'. 30

A continuously rotating inteeddial l4 ismounted upon the work tablet2 to remove'bottlesor other containers from the conveyor [3" and position them upon the container supports" i 5 carried: upon the rotary table it An' outfe'ed dial-H5- is also 3 provided uponthe work table l2 to remove successive containersfrom'the container supports it of the rotary table I l and positionlthern' upon the opposite end of the conveyor I3 for removal from the machine. A guide plate [2 of usual-construction cooperates-with the dials: Hi and l t-to direct the movement of the bottles; The strucv ture described above is described in the patent issued to Robert J. Stewart on May 1938, for

Mixing apparatus, No; 2,117,226}

Each of the container supports l5.issimilar tothe container supports disclosed 'in the above mentioned Stewart-patent in that it comprises a bottle supportingplatform portion including an inwardly and normally upwardly extending 5O shank 2| which is fixed to a horizontal stub shaft 22 journalled ina housing 23 secured to' the upperend of a standard 24 fixed to the upper surface of the rotary table II. Eachstandard 24 partially encloses a vertical shaft which has a its lower end and beneath the rotary table I I. The rotary table is fixed to a hollow vertical shaft 27 journalled in the base l and is rotated through any suitable driving means, not shown. Such rotation of the rotary table II causes the pinions 26 to move along and about a stationary element or ring 28 having gear-teeth arranged thereon, the engagement of the teeth of the pinion 26 with the gear-teeth causing the shaft 25 to be rotated. Each shaft 25 is geared to the corresponding stub shaft 22 through bevelled gearing within the housing 23 so that the stub shaft 22 will be correspondingly rotated to move the bottle support 85 through a vertical plane substantially radial with respect to the rotary table I i.

As is the case in the structure disclosed in the above mentioned Stewart patent, each bottle supporting element I includes a clamping arm 36 mounted upon a vertical rod 3i, which rod is slidable in a bore 32 in the shank H of the bottle supporting element. The vertical rod 3| and clamp 36 carried thereby are urged downwardly to clamp the bottle by a spring 33 mounted in the bore 32. The upper end of spring 33 bears against theupper portionof the bore 32, while the lower end of the spring bears upon a block 34 fixed to the lower end of rod 3|. Block 3 has a roller 35 journalled therein. As is the case in the Stewart machine, the clamping arm 36 of the container supporting element will be raised during the time that a container supporting element is adjacent the work table l2, and so that the container which is clamped on the element I5 may be removed by the dial i6 and another container placed upon the element by the dial [4. The clamping device is raised during this interval by reason of the fact that the roller 35 on rod 3| will contact with a shelf-like cam track 36 indicated in Figure 1. The cam track 36 is supported upon a segmental plate 37 secured to a stationary post 38 which projects up through the hollow and rotatable shaft 2'? as best shown in Figure 2.

In order to permit the containers C to spin or rotate about their longitudinal axis so that the container contents will spin, the platform 20 of each container supporting element 55 has a container supporting disc 46 rotatably journalled therein as shown in Figure 2, the disc 40 including a stub shaft 4| which extends through a vertical bore in the platform 26 and has a wheel or pulley 42 secured to its lower end. The bottle engaging end of each clamping arm 36 has a disc 43 journalled therein and adapted to contact with the upper surface of the container closure. The discs 48 and 43 thus comprise a container gripping means.

At the moment that a container supporting element I5 is adjacent the work table 112 to receive a container from the infeed dial E4, the clamping head 36 of that platform will be raised due to the fact that the roller 35 will be contacting with the cam 36. The element l5 will also be held upright due to the fact that a roller 44 mounted on a vertical pin 45 fixed to a rearward extension 46 of the element 55 will be moving in an upwardly facing U-shaped cam track 48 supported on the segmental plate 31. At this moment, the pinion 26 of the platform will be opposite a plain or non-toothed portion 50 of the rack 28.

Immediately after a container has been positioned upon the rotatable disc 46 of the element l5 by the infeed dial M, the roller 35 will move from the track 36, permitting the rod 3| and the pinion 26 secured to clamping head 30 carried thereby to move downwardly by the action of spring 33 so that the container will be firmly clamped upon the platform 20 by the clamping arm 30. Almost immediately thereafter, the wheel or pulley 42 beneath the platform 20 will contact with the inner run of an endless belt 52 which moves about pulleys 53 and 54 suitably mounted adjacent the edge of the rotary table II. Shaft 54 is driven by any suitable source of power, either by an independent motor or by gearing driven from the apparatus, so that the belt 52 will move at sufiiciently high speed to rotate the pulley 42 and, therethrough, the container C, at a sufficiently high speed to cause the containers to be rapidly rotated so that the container contents will spin about the longitudinal axis of the container. It is found in practice that rotation of the containers at a speed of from 500 to 800 revolutions per minute will give the desired results with average contents. However, where the syrup placed in the containers 0 is relatively thick, a higher speed of rotation may be imparted to the containers.

While the pulley 42 is in contact with, the moving belt 52, the roller 44 which controls the position of the container with respect to the vertical will still be in the cam track 48; but just after'the pulley 42 moves out of contact with the belt 52, roller 44 will engage the lefthand end (Figure 1) of the cam track 48,.which end has its outer wall 56 curved inwardly as shown in Figure 1, with the height of the wall gradually increasing toward its free end in the manner described in the above mentioned Stewart patent. At the same moment that the roller 44 first contacts with the end wall 56, the pinion 26 of the container supporting element I5 will engage a stretch of gear teeth 51 on the ring or rack member 28 so that the pinion will be rotated, thereby tilting the container supporting element I5 and the container C from the position shown at the left hand side of Figure 2 and in the direction of the arrow through an arc of substantially 180, so that the container will be tilted or inverted.

When the above described tilting or inverting movement of the container is almost completed, the roller 44 will enter the lead end 59 of a second cam track 60 formed upon the edge of a second segmental plate 6| supported upon the upper end of the post 38. The cam track 60 is also generally of U-shaped cross section but is downwardly facing as shown at the right hand side of Figure 2. Thelead end 59'0f cam track 60 comprises spaced vertically extending walls 62 and 63 between w oh the roller 44 will move during the latter portion of the inverting movement imparted to the supporting element l5 by the engagement of pinion: 26 with the rack teeth 51 It will be understood that while, the rotation of the container C about its longitudinal axis will stop a short time after the pulley 42 has moved out of contact with belt 62, thecontents of the container will continue to siderably longer time, such spinning action progressing during the subsequent tilting movement of the container through an arc of 180 for the purpose of inverting the same. The result of the spinning of the contents during and after inversion of the bottle will cause the container contents to be quite thoroughly mixed.

In some instances, itmay be found desirable to tilt or invert the containers before rotating them on a longitudinal axis to spin the contents;

spin for a con-v By this latter procedure, the syrup is moved toward the neck or: small" end oi the bottle be fore spinning isinitiated and, when spinning 00- curs, the heavier syrupis movedupwardlyinto the larger portion. of thebottleby centrifugal action. Such an arrangement is disclosed and claimed in my application for Mixing methodand apparatus, Serial No. 282L871, filed July 5, 1939. However, asis clear from theabove', the present invention contemplates rotating the container to obtain spinning. of the contents eitherbefore or after the container has been inverted.

The container willremain in the inverted-position indicated at the righthandportion of: Figure 2 until it reaches the outfeed end 65- of the cam track 60. This end of the cam track is substantially opposite a second-series of gear teeth 66 with which the pinionlli will engage. The'outfeed end 65 of the cam track is so designed that the roller t4 will move along the same during the initial portion of the turning movement of the bottle resulting from the engagementoi pinion 26 with the gearteeth 66. v I

Movement of the pinion along the gear teeth 66' will cause the container to be returned to upright position. In the embodiment of the invention shown herein, the container is moved to upright position by a movement which is a continuation of the movement given thecontainer by the gearteeth 51-. That is, the container will first be moved through substantially by the gear teeth 51 and will be moved an additional 180 in the same direction to be returned toupright position. g

At the conclusion of the uprighting movement given the container by the gear teeth 66, the roller 44 will move into the infeed end 61 of the cam track 48 and, as heretofore described, this cam track'will maintain the container in upright position while the clamping arm 30 is raised so that the bottle may be removed fromthe platform disc 40 by the outfeed dial l4. i I

The length of the movement of the container in an upright position prior to leaving the dial I6 is sufficiently long to permit all bubbles which might be created by the preceding agitation to rise through the liquid, so that the contents will be in a quiescent state. However, it is found that the movements imparted to the container contents bythe present invention do not cause as much roam bubbling as do prior mixers. This is a matter of importance when the bottles are to be immediately moved to aphoto-cellinspection mechanism, since such mechanisms will reject a bottle having a substantial amount of gas bubbles therein.

The apparatus and method of the present invention are particularly advantageous in mixing the contents of a bottle C of the type specifically illustrated in the drawings, and wherein the bottle bottom portion which receives the syrup is of relatively large diameter and merges into a restricted portion just above. In a bottle of this type, it is advantageous to invert the bottle so that the heavy syrup will flow toward the then lowermost neck and mouth. As indicated at the right-hand portion of Figure 2, wherein the bottle C is shown in vertical section, when the contents spin, with the bottlestationary, the contents will be thrown outwardly by centrifugal force at the enlarged portion a at the base of the bottle. Since the contents are whirling upwardly and outwardly from the adjacent restricted portion b, they tend to climb the enlarging wall to wipe the same free of syrup as indicated by the line at, which indicates the concave form which the surface ofthe liquid assumes during spinning. As the container tilts, all surfaces of the bottle wall willbethoroughly washed. i

As a result, the portion a, including the base wall of the bottle, which might normally still have-a thin coating of syrup thereon, will be thoroughly sweptlo'r scoured-by the wiping action-of the contents. Obviously, the same effect willbe obtained, it the spinning of the contents isflinitiated after. inversion, since if the drive of the spinning means is made more rapid-equally good results-will be obtained.

It will be noted that by the method and apparatus of the present invention, involving tilting anduprighting the containers, or moving the containers end over end, and causing the contents to spinwith respect to the container, and after-the container hasceased to rotate, thecontainer' contents are thoroughly mixed and all syrup is removed from the container wall.

Subject matter of my invention disclosed but not claimed herein is claimed in my application for Mixing method and apparatus, Serial No. 264,102, filed February 1, 1939 or in my application: for .Mixing method apparatus, Serial No. 28 2:,8-71,filedJuly 5,1969. 3

The phraseology employed in th'ezspecification is for the purpose oidescription and is not intended to limit the invention, invention being indicated in theclaims.

I claim: 1

1. In amixing apparatus, a base, a rotary table, a container supporting element journaled' on said table for tilting movement with respect to said table, means to deliver a container to and remove the same from said element, said element includthe scope of the ing container gripping means rotatable with respect thereto;means to rotate said gripping means to spin the container about its longitudinal axis, and meansto move said container supporting element totilt the container.

2. In a mixing apparatus, a base, a rotary table, a container supporting element journaled on said table for tilting movement in a plane substantially radial with respect to said table, means to deliver a container to and remove the same from said element, said element including container gripping means rotatable with respect thereto, means to rotate said grippingmeans to spin the container about its longitudinal axis, and means to movesaid plane substantially radial with respect to said table to tilt the container.

. 3. An apparatus as specified in 'claim 1 in which 1 the tilting movement of the supporting element and container follows the spinning of the gripand engageable by the gripping means of the latter during the rotary movement of the table.

6. In a mixing apparatus, a base, a rotary table,

container supporting element in a container supporting elements journaled on said table for tilting movement with respect to said table, means to deliver containers to and remove the same from said elements, said elements including container gripping means rotatable with respect thereto, means to rotate said gripping means to spin the containers about their longitudinal axes, means to move said container supporting elements to tilt the containers immediately following the spinning movement, whereby the contents will rotate with respect to the containers while the latter are inverted.

7. In a beverage mixing apparatus, a rotary table, a plurality of supports for containers on said table, said supports being tiltable with respect to said table and including means for gripping the containers adjacent their ends, said means being rotatable with respect to said supports to permit spinning of the containers about their longitudinal axes while gripped, means operative as the table rotates to tilt the supports and containers carried thereby, and means operative as the table rotates to spin said gripping means and the containers carried thereby about the longitudinal axes of the containers.

8. In a beverage mixing apparatus, a rotary table, a plurality of supports for containers on said table, said supports including means for gripping the containers at their ends, said gripping means being rotatable to permit spinning of the containers about their longitudinal axes, means operative during an initial portion of the rotation of said table to rotate the supports to spin the containers, and means operative during the following portion of the rotary movement of the table to actuate the supports to tilt the containers to substantially inverted positions whereby the contents will rotate with respect to the containers While the latter are inverted.

9. The method of mixing the contents of a filled beverage container which comprises the successive steps of first spinning the container at a relatively high speed about its longitudinal axis while maintaining it against tilting movement and then immediately substantially inverting the container whereby the contents Will be rotated with respect to the container while the latter is inverted, the speed of spinning being of the order of several hundred revolutions per minute whereby to be sufficiently high to thoroughly remove syrup deposit from the container wall.

10. In a mixing apparatus, a base, a rotary table, a container supporting element journalled on said table for tilting movement with respect to said table, means to deliver a containerto and remove the same from said element, said element including container gripping means rotatable with respect thereto, means to rotate said gripping means to spin the container about its longitudinal axis and means to subsequently tilt said container supporting element to tilt the container.

11. In a mixing apparatus, a base, a rotary tab1e,-:a container supporting, element Journalled on said table ,for tilting movement with respect to said table, means to deliver ,a container to and remove thesame from said element, said element including container gripping means rotatable with respect thereto, means to rotate said gripping means to spin the container while substantially upright to, rotate its contents about its longitudinal axis and means to subsequently move said elemenoto tilt the container in a, plane radial with respect to said rotary table.

12 In a mixing, apparatus, a base, a rotary table, a, container supporting element journalled on said table for tilting movement with respect to said table, means to deliver a container to and remove the same from said element, said elementv including container gripping means rotatable with respect thereto, means to rotate said gripping means tospin the container to rotate its contents about its longitudinal axis and means to subsequently move said element to tilt the container before rotation of the container contents stops.

13. In a beverage'mixing apparatus, a rotary table, a plurality of supports for containers on said table, and means for actuating said supports as the, table rotates to tilt containers supported thereby, during one, portion of the table movement, and means to spin the containers about their longitudinal axes ata relatively high speed of the orderof several hundred revolutions per minute during another portion of the table movement.

14. The method of mixing the contents of a beverage container filled with syrup and water which comprises the successive steps of tilting the container and spinning the container about its longitudinal axis while maintaining the container against tilting movement, the speed of spinning being of the order of several hundred revolutions per minute whereby to be sufiiciently high to remove syrup deposit from the container wall.

15. In an apparatus for mixing the contents of a container, the combination with a rotary member, of a container supporting element mounted tomove on said rotary member in a plane radial to said rotary member, said container supportingelement supporting the container to rotate on its longitudinal axis in said supporting member, and means for rotating the container on its longitudinal axis while supported in said supporting element.

GEORGE W. NEWTON. 

